In This Election for Mayor, Every Vote Will Count

While the mainstream media seem to think that the outcome of the mayoral election is a foregone conclusion, New York City is in the midst of our most hotly contested race in years. As this election winds down, it will become evident that the outcome will be decided by turnout – who votes and who stays home on Election Day.

There is a great opportunity for controlling the direction of city government. But 1.7 million New Yorkers eligible to vote are unregistered. That’s one-third of the potential electorate not registered, not voting, not having their voices heard on issues that affect their lives, and not influencing the decisions that determine public policy and the allocation of resources.


1.7 million
potential votersThese unregistered New Yorkers are predominately low-income and people of color, and the issues concerning them cry out for change. More than 40 percent of black men unemployed, less than 10 percent of black and Latino students graduating high school with a Regents diploma, over 170,000 young people in New York City neither in school nor in the labor market, disengaged from any framework that would provide them with a future.

If we are to confront these problems, we need a massive turnout on Election Day. Elections provide citizens with the opportunity to address policies that don’t work.

Whoever is elected mayor will have to make hard choices – on budgets, taxes, and services. What will be the priorities of the next administration? Whose concerns will be addressed? Will budgets be balanced on the backs of the poor or will the pain be more evenly distributed? To a large degree, the answers to these questions will be decided by the voters on Election Day.

A Mayor to Lead

Beyond budget concerns, New York City needs a leader. For years, Albany and Washington have treated this city like an unwanted stepchild. We send billions more in taxes to those places every year than we get back in funding. When the Republicans in Congress voted huge tax breaks for wealthy Americans, they explained that “It’s your money.” Well, we want our money.

We need a mayor who will fight for New York City’s 1.7 million low-income and working poor; who will organize our state representatives and members of Congress to be a force for New York City. The federal government’s views on poverty and the poor in America are chilling. Consider the situation in the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina – the federal government ignored the needs of poor people at a time when the stakes were life and death.

Urban concerns have been largely ignored by the Bush administration. Our mayor should be organizing an urban coalition of big city mayors to go to Washington and demand that funding be increased for urban areas. He should be lobbying the governor and the State Legislature to ensure that CUNY tuition is not raised - again, that transit fares don’t go up - again, that community health centers are funded, that people in need are not denied emergency housing or assistance, that the state budget isn’t balanced by cutting Medicaid benefits.

Paid for in Blood

But for people of color, this election – any election – is more than about the issues of the day.
When you wonder whether it’s worth the bother to vote, remember – the right to vote was bought and paid for with the blood of untold numbers of people of color throughout the history of this country.

To join the debate on
the mayoral election
and other issues,
log on to the
CSS blog – Turnstile.

And when violence proved ineffective, the legal system was used. Laws limiting participation in elections were an important tool for preventing groups from developing and using their potential voting power. New York State required a literacy test to vote until it was outlawed by adoption of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

Laws that ensured the vote for the poor and people of color came about only through organization and struggle. But getting laws passed is not enough. Today, political participation in large parts of the black and Latino communities is characterized by low registration and voter turnout, a circumstance that allows politicians to ignore our issues and concerns.

Don’t let them continue to ignore our needs. In this election, every vote will count. If you are not registered, you can register by October 14th and vote in the November 8th general election. Think about the impact that 1.7 million new voters could have on the direction of New York City’s government.

From the New York Amsterdam News
September 22 - 28, 2005